Internet access is increasingly based on browser technology. The internet is a computer network built upon the network of telephone lines that exist worldwide. Computers connected to the internet can exchange information with any other connected computer. FIG. 1 is a simplified rendition of the internet. At the heart of the internet is the so-called "Internet Backbone," at the center of FIG. 1. The backbone is founded on the set of major telephone conduits that exist across the world. These are the long-distance telephone provider's conduits designed to move large volumes of data traffic quickly. For example, the triangle in the center of FIG. 1 may represent the three major telephone conduits that exist between Washington, Los Angeles, and New York.
Each of the major conduits terminates at a router. The routers are large, fast switching systems that sort the large volume of incoming data for local routing, much as large Post Offices sort mail for local delivery. Each router is connected to additional, more local, routers. Some of the local routers are called "points of presence" (or "POPs") and are designed to bring backbone access to more localized regions. Thus, for example, the backbone termination router that exists in Washington may have point of presence routers connected in Baltimore, Alexandria, etc. A backbone router can connect as many point of presence routers as the constraints of its switching systems and the capacity of the backbone will permit.
In addition to point of presence routers, Commercial Internet Exchanges (CIX in FIG. 1) and Global Internet Exchanges (GIX in FIG. 1) also connect to the backbone routers. These exchanges transfer data between internet service providers nationally and internationally. When data originates on one U.S. internet service provider with a destination on another U.S. internet service provider, the data first routes to the Commercial Internet Exchange where it makes the transfer between providers. A similar situation occurs when data originates in one country, bound for another country. The data first passes through the Global Internet Exchange where it is transferred from one provider to another.
In theory, still further, even more localized, point of presence routers could connect off of the point of presence routers shown in FIG. 1. Typically, however, the point of presence routers (POP1, POP2, POP3, etc.) provide the direct local connection point for various types of computers to connect to the internet.
A common method in which personal home computers connect to the point of presence is through a local internet carrier. As shown at POP2 in FIG. 1, the local internet carrier obtains a direct line to the POP2, and then provides a modem connection for home computer users to dial for connection. When the home computer connects to the modem of the local internet carrier, the carrier switches the computer through to the POP2, which in turn switches it onto the internet backbone.
Another method of connecting computers to the internet is by direct connection through a LAN system to the point of presence. This example is shown as LAN#1 and LAN#2 connections to, respectively, POP1 and POP2. Specifically, the LAN connects to the point of presence through a leased data line (dedicated phone connection). The computers (PCs in FIG. 1) are connected to the LAN and receive and transmit data to the point of presence through the control of the LAN. Also attached to the LAN are a variety of different servers, three of which are shown in FIG. 1. The File Server connects to the LAN and contains the common data files used by the PCs, LAN, and other Servers. The HTTP Server processes incoming and outgoing data to and from the internet by assuring that the data is written and received according to certain internet communication protocols, called the HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP). The Electronic Mail Server processes E-Mail data that is written to or received from the internet.
As shown in FIG. 1, the internet provides a conduit essentially interconnecting every computer on the internet with every other computer on the internet. LAN#1, for example, can provide certain data (called internet pages) from its File Server to the HTTP server to make the pages available to any other computer on the internet. An HTTP Server that makes internet pages available on the internet usually includes a so-called "home page," which is the starting point for outside users to navigate through the underlying internet pages serviced by the HTTP Server. When a user, such as the user of the "Home PC" (emanating from POP2 in FIG. 1), wants to view a home page, such as LAN#1's home page, it can do so by calling for the data from LAN#1. In response, LAN#1 pulls the internet page data from its File Server and instructs its HTTP Server to write the data, addressed to Home PC, onto the internet. The data travels from the local ISDN to the POP1, through the internet backbone (and respective routers), through the CIX or IIX (if necessary), through POP2, through the local internet carrier, and into the modem of the Home PC. The request for the data from the Home PC to the LAN#1, of course, travels along the opposite path.
To insure that data is sent to and received by the appropriate systems on the internet, every "device" (i.e., PC workstation, HTTP Server, File Server, etc.), when it is communicating on the internet, has assigned to it a unique address, called an IP Address. The IP Address can be analogized to a personal phone number that can be called by another phone to make a connection (through a series of telephone routers) between them. The IP Address is presently a sixteen bit binary address, which is fine for computers to read, but is cumbersome for a human user to memorize or use. As a result, the IP Addresses are assigned mnemonics to make them more "user-friendly." One mnemonics of particular importance is the "host name," which is the IP Address for any HTTP where a home internet page resides (as a result of convention, the host name is usually assigned the mnemonics "WWW"). The IP Address for the internet site (for example, the LAN) supporting the HTTP Server is called a "domain name."
FIG. 2 shows an address line written in the standard protocol used by internet components to address each other. The protocol is referred to as a "Uniform Resource Locator" (URL) and this terminology appears as the opening argument in the address of FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, the Uniform Resource Locator indicates that the request is for "HTTP" formatted data (i.e., a internet page as opposed to, for example, an e-mail message). The home page for the data resides on the "www" HTTP Server on the "ucla.edu" LAN (or domain). The name of the file (to be found most likely in the File Server supported by the ucla.edu LAN) is "homepage html."
If, for example, the ucla.edu LAN is LAN#1 of FIG. 1 and a user of a PC at LAN#2 wants to view the "homepage.html" file, the user sends the address shown in FIG. 2 to LAN#1 through the internet channels shown in FIG. 1. Upon receipt of the address, LAN#1 returns to the user the "homepage.htl" file through a reverse path of the internet channels.
Once a user has received an "HTML" formatted file (any internet page), the text of the file may prompt the user to request additional information contained in different internet page files. The prompts are referred to as "hypertext" and usually show up on a home page (or other internet page) in a different color than normal text, thus distinguishing them as hypertext links. As an example, a user requesting a local zoo homepage may see several different hypertext links to files containing information on various animals at the zoo, a map of the zoo, operating times, etc. By clicking a computer pointer on the prompt, the user can automatically move from a current internet page to a new one.
The computer pointing device can be a "mouse," a touchscreen, a remote control, a light pen, etc.
When the user clicks on a hypertext link, the user's data processor records the position of the computer pointer when the click occurred. The processor then uses a look-up table of x-y coordinates versus URLs to identify a new URL address assigned to the position of the computer pointer. The URL address may be serviced by the same domain or a different one, depending on the information contained in the look-up table. When clicked, a browser (discussed in more detail below) requests a connection to the HTTP Server hosting the file, and it also requests from the HTTP Server the file identified by the URL. Once the HTTP Server accepts the connection requested by the browser, the HTTP Server transmits back to the browser the requested file. Once the browser receives the requested file, it delivers or presents the content of the file to the requesting user.
Hypertext links can be assigned to textual information, such as, in the example of the zoo page, assigning links to the words "monkey" and "elephant" appearing on the internet page screen. They can also be assigned to photographs on the internet page screen, such as on a picture of a monkey or an elephant. Then, by placing the pointing device on the text or picture and clicking the pointing device, the user is taken from a current internet page to a new internet page assigned to the particular text or picture selected. Thus, for example, clicking on the elephant may take a user from a local zoo page to a page supported by a elephant conservation association or, alternatively, to another local zoo page containing pictures of the elephants kept at the zoo. In either the text or picture examples, the internet page is embedded with specially assigned "hot spots," located at x-y coordinates on the page. When the browser detects a pointing device click over a "hotspot", or linked location, it finds the associated URL and sends the filename portion of the URL to the server located at the domain name portion of the URL. A picture may further be flagged as having a "map" associated with it. If it does, the relative coordinates of the click within the picture are sent to the server as well. The server then determines which page to return, based on the location of the click.
Browsers are used by the internet user at the local PC to convert information received from the HTTP Server into a format that can be displayed by the browser on the video screen (or through the audio speakers) of the PC. The browser is thus an application program that runs on a local PC and acts as a translator of HTML information to be presentable at the local PC. Several different commercial browsers are available that can be incorporated into the present invention, including, for example, the Netscape Navigator browser.
The browser is also used to recognize clicks on the screen made by a user with the computer pointing device. When the user positions the computer pointing device on a portion of the text of the screen associated with a hypertext link, the browser recognizes the user's action as a request to get a file from a web site identified by the URL thereby obtaining new data files from an IP address on the internet. Then, as discussed above, when the data is returned from the HTTP Server, the server delivers the data to the browser, which translates it into a format presentable at the PC and presents it to the user.
On occasion, the information that is returned from the HTTP Server (and subsequently to the browser) is of a type not presentable by the particular browser being used. This occurs, for example, when video data is returned to the browser and the browser does not have the appropriate application software to display the video to the PC user. In these instances, the browser enlists a helper application resident on the PC to display the incoming data. For example, when the browser receives video data from the internet, it frequently opens a viewer, which appears as a window on the screen of the PC user, which will process the incoming video data through the browser and display the video to the user on the PC screen.